Welcome to my blog

Based at Kensington Central London.Qualified as a medical doctor in Western medicine over 20 years ago in China with a Medical degree from Beijing, China and a PhD degree from the UK. Many year research and clinical experiences

Doctor who is passionate about acupuncture

I love what I do, I am good at it and I am always there for my patients. If you come and see me, you will know why I am standing out.

This blog is to introduce latest development and research of acupuncture and offer a chance of awareness of more treatment options for your condition. The blog is for information purpose only.

My background: I became a qualified medical doctor in Western medicine 20 years ago in China and was well trained in Western medicine together with Chinese medicine in the best Medical University in Beijing, China. Also I was trained with Dr Zheren Xuan--famous orthopedics expert and founder of soft tissue surgery in China. I am dedicated to treat patients with acupuncture and am recognized as one of the world leading acupuncture specialists.

I obtained a PhD degree in the University of Leeds in the UK.

I had post doctoral training and worked as a senior researcher in St George's hospital, London, UK.

I had frequently presented my research findings in the top international conferences in the field.

I have many publications including ebooks and articles.

I have many year clinical experiences. Over the years of practicing, I have developed unique treatment approaches for infertility, skin aging, acne, vulvodynia, neck pain, headache, migraine, shoulder pain, back pain, fatigue, hot flushes, Parkison's disease etc to achieve best treatment results. My devotion and skills are highly praised by my patients.

Tuesday, 18 October 2016

Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) or acid reflux disease is a common condition, where acid produced by the stomach leaks up into the oesophagus. At the entrance to the stomach, there is a lower oesophageal sphincter which is a ring muscle that closes the stomach as soon as food passes through into the stomach. If this sphincter becomes loos or opens too often the acid produced in the stomach and go back up to the oesophagus causing acid reflux disease. The symptoms mainly include heart burn and sore throat. Heart burn is a burning sensation in the chest just below the breastbone and it sometimes can spread to the throat. The burning sensation is worse after eating, or lying down or bending over. Sore throat is that acid produced in the stomach is brought back up into the throat and mouth which make you constantly clear the throat (persistent coughing) and sour taste at the throat or at the back of the mouth. Other symptoms include bad breath, bloating, feeling sick, pain when swallowing, difficulty swallowing, tooth decay and gum disease. Certain food and drinks can make acid reflux worse such as citrus, tomato, chocolate, mint, garlic, onions and spicy or fatty foods; alcohol, carbonated drinks, coffee or tea etc. There are some complications with acid reflux such as oesophageal ulcers, scarred and narrow oesophagus, barrett’s oesophagus and oesophageal cancer.

Do you know acupuncture can help reducing acid reflux?

Recently much research has been done to investigate the effectiveness of acupuncture on acid reflux. For example, a study compared the effect of acupuncture with that of Omeprazole capsules. They showed that the effect of acupuncture is much superior to this medication to improve acid reflux symptoms. Another study has shown that acupuncture improved functional state of esophagus, neurohumoral regulation of lower esophageal sphincter, decrease of acid producing function of stomach. A review analyzed current status of acupuncture on acid reflux. They suggested that acupuncture inhibits acid production, increases gastric and oesophageal motility, improves esophageal peristalsis, limits lower esophageal sphincter relaxation and decreases pain perception.

Skin is an organ which protects us from the environment, controls our body temperature and prevents our body from losing fluid and electrolyte balance.

Skin can be generally divided into three main parts:

The outer part (epidermis) contains skin cells, pigment, and proteins.

The middle part (dermis) contains blood vessels, nerves, hair follicles, and oil glands. The dermis provides nutrients to the epidermis.

The inner layer under the dermis (the subcutaneous layer) contains sweat glands, some hair follicles, blood vessels, and fat. Each layer also contains connective tissue with collagen fibers to give support and elastin fibers to provide flexibility and strength.

There is a network of blood vessels in the two layers of the skin which provides oxygen and nutrients to the skin and takes away the waste from the skin.

Facial skin and facial skin aging

Human body is covered by the skin including face. However facial skin is different from body skin. The skin on the face is thinner than the skin on the body; fat layer is thinner as well. There are more hair follicles, sweat and oil glands on the facial skin. The skin cells on the face are generally smaller than skin cells on the rest of the body. Water is lost from the face more quickly than from the body. Pigmentation, fine lines and outbreaks can be seen on neglected skin. Degradation of collagen leads to dry skin, folds and wrinkles.

How your face changes with aging?

Environmental factors can speed up aging process: such as hormonal imbalance, sun exposure, smoking, stress, diet, diseases etc. This makes people look older than their age.

Face changes when people grow older. This change starts as early as in 30’s year old. The most prominent characteristics by which skin aging is recognized are facial wrinkles and sagging. A study suggested that the average age at which distinct wrinkles occur at the corners of the eyes is 36.5 years old. Wrinkles appear to develop early and rapidly at the corners of the eyes compared with other facial sites. Wrinkles rapidly increase in depth and width in women 40 years or older and reach a plateau at the age of 60 years. The strongest age dependent decline in skin elasticity has been seen at the corners of the eyes. A comparison of wrinkle depth with skin elasticity in the same corners of the eyes revealed that wrinkle severity occurs in proportion to the reduced elasticity of human facial skin. Sun exposure can accelerate facial skin aging and create wrinkles and skin sagging.

With aging, various spots and pigmentation are easily seen. These are not only changes in the aging skin. Also with aging, outer skin layer becomes thinner. Spots including age spot, liver spots etc may appear especially in sun-exposed areas. Skin’s strength and elasticity are reduced with the changes in the connective tissue. The blood vessels of the dermis become more fragile leading to bruising, bleeding under the skin. Skin becomes dry and itching because of less oil produced. The fat layer becomes thinner which reduces skin insulation and padding and one feels more difficult to keep warm in cold weather. The sweat glands produce less sweat which makes it harder to keep cool. Skin tags and warts are common with aging.

Aging change not only happens on the surface of the skin, but also underneath the skin surface such as fat muscle and bone etc. Loss fat volume and muscle mass on the face makes the face loss its fullness. Fat pulls downwards and the skin becomes loose and sagging due to gravity and muscle force. Bone also losses its mass and muscles are shortened and straightened. Corners of the eyes and mouth drop, tip of the nose drops as well and ears become longer.

Facial rejuvenation

Rejuvenation is the reversal of aging. This could be done by repairing or replacing damaged tissues. When people grow older, they want to delay the aging process. Can they? Facial rejuvenation is a cosmetic treatment which helps bring back youthful look. This can be achieved through surgical or non-surgical procedure. Facial rejuvenation procedure is more popular than ever. In 2013, over133,000 facelifts and nearly 216,000 eyelid surgeries were performed in the USA which was 6% increase from 2012. The current trend of facial rejuvenation is towards less invasive procedures. For example, facial rejuvenation procedures experienced the most growth is botulinum toxin type A injections; in 2013, it reached 6.3 million injections in USA, which increased 6% from previous year. Non surgical procedure is preferred because of less invasive, less expensive and quick recovery from the procedure.

What is cosmetic acupuncture, how does it work?

Facial acupuncture can help reducing wrinkles. Thin acupuncture needles are inserted in acupuncture points on the face. This is a natural way to relax facial muscles and reduce wrinkles. Also skin is better nourished by increased facial blood flow and becomes healthier. There is no side effects for acupuncture treatments apart from a small chance of little bruising which would disappear in a few days time.

Recently, cosmetic acupuncture has been introduced as an intervention for skin rejuvenation. It is a natural and healthy way to look and feel years younger. Why acupuncture can play a role in cosmetic purpose? Treatment benefits include elimination of some wrinkles and decrease in length and depth of others, decrease of facial edema, decrease of acne, improvement of facial muscle tone, improving skin texture with tighter pores, and decrease of sagging around the eyes, cheeks, chin, and neck, lifting of droopy eyelids, clearing or fading of age spots. Skin becomes more delicate and fair and at the same time overall appearance and health enhanced.

Acupuncture increases blood circulation leading to homogonous distribution of oxygen and nutrients as well as cellular regeneration. Facial mimetic muscles gradually straighten and shorten with age as a result of increased resting muscle tone and acupuncture can improve the muscle tone. Acupuncture helps regeneration of healthy skin cells, increase nutrition to the skin's surface, improves the quality of the skin and enhances a healthy glow, stimulates normal breathing of the skin and makes skin healthy and stronger to prevent infections and clogged pores. Good skin circulation takes waste and reduces grease accumulation resulting in deep cleaning of the skin. Acupuncture stimulates the production of collagen and elastin in the skin. Recently a research suggested that wrinkles were improved significantly after facial acupuncture treatment and facial elasticity was also improved in women aged 40 and 59 years.

Is there side effect of facial acupuncture? A study has shown that the most commonly reported adverse event that was clearly attributable to FCA treatment was mild bruising (20/140 treatment sessions; 14.28%) at the needle site. No adverse events of scarring, nerve damage, or lengthy recovery periods were observed.

Research shows that acupuncture improves blood circulation

Skin blood flow significantly decreased with increase in age. Skin blood flow is 40% less at age 65 than at age 25. This is because skin blood flow decreases with decreased pumping blood from heart; skin blood flow significantly decreased with increase in total cholesterol and systolic blood pressure; less blood is redirected to the skin from other part of the body; blood vessel movement is impaired with aging and blood vessels are not relaxed to increase the blood flow.

Many research data suggested that acupuncture improves blood perfusion. For example, there was a study of acupuncture on 140 healthy volunteers. In this study, acupuncture was applied in LI4’ skin blood flow was measured using a Moor full-field laser perfusion imager before and after acupuncture stimulation. Recently study has shown that stimulating LI4 also increased facial blood flow and hand blood flow. After acupuncture of the right LI4 acupuncture the change ratio of mean blood flux in the left LI4 was increased significantly compared with the control group 60 minutes after acupuncture stimulation. Another study has shown that acupuncture at LI4 and LI11 increased blood circulation along the meridian. Study at ST36 point also has suggested increased skin blood perfusion around the acupuncture point in healthy subjects. In 22 healthy volunteers acupuncture at PC6 point increased microcirculation blood perfusion units along the meridian. Increased blood circulation was also seen at the back acupuncture point study. This also demonstrated in some conditions For example, in a study patients with dysmenorrhea were treated with acupuncture. After 10 sessions of acupuncture treatment, microcirculation was increased and the symptom scores, pain index, and visual analog scale decreased significantly in treatment group.

Reduce wrinkles by botox injection

Botox is a neuro toxin. It has been used to treat various medical conditions. Recently it was approved for using in cosmetic purpose to reduce wrinkles on the face. This is because botox paralyses facial muscles. Botox injection is a procedure in which botox is injected into the desired area using injected needles. Following the treatments visible result can be seen within days or a couple of weeks. They tend to last for up to three or four months. Botox does not actually erase lines but relaxes them which means that deeper lines will become less deep and superficial lines will nearly disappear. Bleeding, bruising , swelling or redness at the site of injection is short term side effects. Other risks include headache, pain, and flu-like illness. In rare cases, there may be inappropriate facial expression, a drooping lid or eyebrow area, or double or blurred vision, dry mouth, fatigue and allergic reactions. If the toxin could travel back to the central nervous system, this would cause long-term damage.

Thursday, 13 October 2016

The nuchal ligament is a ligament at the midline of the neck which extends from the bottom of the skull to the spinous process of the seventh cervical vertibrae which is the lowest cervical vertebrae on the neck. It forms a septum between the muscles on the either side of the neck. There are four muscles including trapezius, splenius capitis, rhomboid minor and serratus posterior superior attached the nuchal ligament. The nuchal ligament limits flexion of the neck, stabilizes the neck and affects muscular activity in the neck. Trauma and overuse of nuchal ligament can result in ossification of the ligament which causes neck stiffness and pain, progressive cervical spine instability and malalignment and nerve route irritation. Acupuncture can help release neck stiffness and neck pain.

Tuesday, 4 October 2016

Trapezius muscle is a broad triangular muscle at neck and upper back, one of the largest superficial muscles at the back. It attaches to the base of the skull and extends down to the neck, the upper back until mid back; laterally it inserts to the shoulder blades. There are three functional regions to the muscle: the Upper, middle, and lower trapezius, and each region has its own function: upper region moves the shoulder blades and support the arms; the middle region retracts the shoulder blades and the lower region rotates and depresses the shoulder blades.

Pain caused from this muscle may be on the top of the shoulder, neck, mid back and/or upper shoulder pain; pain at the back of the shoulder blade which could go down the inside of the arm to the ring and little fingers.

Latissimus dorsi

Latissimus dorsi is the largest flat muscle at the back. This muscle is involved in adducting the arms, extending the shoulders and rotating shoulder joints medially. It also plays a role in extension and lateral flexion of the lumbar spine. The latissimus dorsi originated from the lumbodorsal fascia of the lower back, arising from the inferior thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, sacrum, iliac crest, and the four most inferior ribs, it runs laterally up through the back, inferior part of shoulder blades and insert on the humerus at the upper front of the upper arm. Tight latissimus dorsi and the trigger points on the muscles could be one of the causes of chronic mid back pain, shoulder pain, forearm pain, pain between shoulder blades, shoulder blades and pain in front of shoulder. The characteristic of pain is at lower shoulder blade and mid back and also the pain can go down the backside of the arm or the inner side of the arm and reach the hand and 4th and 5th fingers. Pain can be present at the front of the shoulder and to the side of the body just above the hip.

Rotator cuff

Rotator cuff comprises four muscles which are supraspinatus muscle, the infraspinatus muscle, teres minor muscle, and the subscapularis muscle. They all originate from the scapula and insert into humerus. They connect scapula to the head to humerus , stabilize shoulder joint and contribute to shoulder joint movement including abduction, internal rotation, and external rotation of the shoulder.

Rotator cuff disorder is one of the problems that cause shoulder pain. The main symptoms are pain around the shoulder and reduced shoulder joint movement. Acupuncture can help reduce the pain.

Teres major muscle

Teres major muscle is the muscle that connects shoulder blades to the upper arms. It starts from lower angle of the shoulder blade and ends at the upper arm in the front of the shoulder. The teres major muscle adducts the arm, extends the shoulder and rotates it inwardly. It also helps stabilize the humeral head. The pain caused in the teres major trigger is the back of your shoulder and also this pain can radiate to the front and side of the shoulder and down the backside of the arm. The trigger points for this muscle can be found at the lower angle of shoulder blades. Acupuncture can help release the pain.

How many muscles connect the humerus (upper arm) to the scapula (shoulder blade)?

There are muscles that connect the upper arm to the shoulder blades and help the movement of the shoulder. Do you know how many of them? There are seven muscles that connect the upper arm to the shoulder blades. They are coracobrachialis muscle, four rotator cuff muscles including infraspinatus, subscapularis, supraspinatus and teres minor muscles, teres major muscle and deltoid muscle. Overuse or injury to these muscles can cause shoulder and arm pain. Acupuncture can help release the pain.

Deltoid muscles

The deltoid muscle is the big muscle on the shoulder which forms the rounded contour of the shoulder. It has three parts; the front or anterior, middle and back or posterior. The anterior fibers are involved in flexing the shoulder and internally rotating the arm. The posterior fibers are involved in extending the shoulder and externally rotating the arm. The lateral fibers are involved in shoulder abduction. Deltoid muscle strain is less common than rotator cuff muscles strain.

Pectoralis major and minor muscles and shoulder pain

The perctoralis major muscle is a muscle located at the chest. Underneath the pectoralis major is the pectoralis minor muscle- a small triangular muscle.

The pectoralis muscle originated from inner half of the clavicular bone, sternum as well as the cartilage of the sixth or seventh rib and the aponeurosis of the abdominal muscle. The muscle run laterally and insert into the upper humerus. It adducts the arm and rotates the shoulder inwardly, pull down the shoulder joint and elevated the arm in front of you. The muscle trigger points contribute to the shoulder pain and upper and inner side of the forearm.

Pectoralis minor originates from the third, fourth and fifth ribs and it runs upward and laterally and inserts to the surface of the coracoids process of the scapula. It pulls the shoulder blade downward, forward and inward towards the ribs, stabilizes the shoulder, prevents the shoulder blade from being pushed backwards. The trigger point of themuscle contributes to the pain in front of the shoulder, that could radiate to your chest and all the way down the inner arm.

Biceps and the shoulder, arm and elbow pain

In the upper arm, there is a muscle called biceps brachii or biceps. This muscle is two headed lies on the upper arm between the shoulder and the elbow. The two heads start from the scapular of the shoulder and join together to one muscle on the upper arm (humarus) and attach to the bones radius and ulnar in the front of the elbow. The biceps turn the arm outward, turn the palm upward, flex the elbow and flex the shoulder (bring the shoulder forward and upwards). The biceps can contribute to the pain on the front of the arm, the elbow and the shoulder. Also it contributes to the medial rotation of the shoulder.

Triceps

The triceps brachii muscle or three headed muscle of the arm is the large muscle on the back of the upper limb. The three heads include long head, medial head and lateral head. The long head originates from the top of the scapula (the infraglenoid tubercle of the scapula). The medial head originates from the upper part of the limb (the groove of the radial nerve, the dorsal surface of the humerus, the medial intermuscular septum and the lateral intermuscular septum). The lateral head originates from the back of the upper limb (the dorsal surface of the humerus, lateral and proximal to the groove of the radial nerve, the greater tubercle down to the region of the lateral intermuscular septum. The three heads join together, form a tendon and attach to the elbow (the olecranon process of the ulna). The triceps extend the elbow and shoulder joint to straighten the elbow and move the arm backwards and also pull the arm towards the body. If the triceps contain trigger points, you can experience pain on the shoulder, arm, elbow or the pain can radiate to the forearm.

Shoulder pain is very common: about 3 in 10 adults are affected by them at any one time. Frozen shoulder and rotator cuff disorders are most common in middle-aged and older people.

Frozen shoulder

Frozen shoulder is a painful condition in the shoulder. The medical term for frozen shoulder is adhesive capsulitis. It presents a painful persistent stiffness of the shoulder joint that it is difficult to carry out everyday tasks such as dressing, driving and sleeping comfortably. Some people are unable to move their shoulder at all. This is caused when the capsule surrounds the shoulder joint becomes inflamed. The capsule that surrounds your shoulder joint becomes swollen, thickened and tightened This leaves less space for your upper arm bone in the shoulder joint, and makes the movement stiff and painful. The symptoms of frozen shoulder can vary greatly, but tend to get worse slowly over the time. They are usually felt in three stages spread over a number of months or years. This is a common condition affecting about 2% of adults.

The most common symptoms are pain and stiffness in the shoulder. Also the amount of movement in affected shoulder joint is reduced. In severe cases, the shoulder may not be moved at all. Though it is a common condition, the treatment remains challenging. Jain and Sharma from University of Kansas Medical Center USA reviewed current best evidence for the use of physical therapy intervention for frozen shoulder. Therapeutic exercises and mobilization are strongly recommended for reducing pain, improving range of motion and function in patients with stage 2 and 3 of frozen shoulder. Low level laser therapy is strongly suggested for pain relief and moderately suggested for improving function but not recommended for improving range of motion. Corticosteroid injections can be used for stage 1 frozen shoulder. Acupuncture is an option of treatment. Acupuncture with therapeutic exercises is moderately recommended for pain relief, improving range of motion and function.

Many case reports were published showing effectiveness of acupuncture in reducing pain on frozen shoulder. For example, Wang XH et al observed 60 cases with frozen shoulder. These patients were divided into two groups for acupuncture or acupuncture plus moxibustion treatments. The acupuncture points selected were Jianyu (LI15), Jianliao (TE14) and Jianzhen (SI9). Tender points were also selected in acupuncture-moxibustion group. They found that acupuncture alone or acupuncture plus moxibustion were effective for frozen shoulder. Acupuncture combined with moxibustion may have better cured rate, but the effective rate has no significant difference. Some clinical trials suggest that acupuncture may improve recovery in patients with a frozen shoulder, either when used alone or in combination with physiotherapy. Acupuncture has effect of frozen shoulder in reducing pain, inflammation muscle and joint stiffness. This is because acupuncture stimulates nerve ends releasing analgesic substances such as endorphins; it reduces inflammation and improves local blood flow. The meridians involved in treating frozen shoulders are muscle meridian of Hand-Yangming, Hand-Shaoyang, Hand-Taiyang, and three yin meridians of hand appeared at proximal points of shoulder joint.

Rotator cuff disorders

The rotator cuff is a group of tendons and muscles in the shoulder, connecting the upper arm to the shoulder blade. The rotator cuff tendons provide stability to the shoulder; the muscles allow the shoulder to rotate. The rotator cuff keeps the joint in the correct position, allowing it to move in a controlled way. It keeps the upper arm bone in the shoulder socket and it raises and twists the arm. If it is irritated or damaged, rotator cuff disorders occur. Rotator cuff disorders include inflammation of the tendons or a bursa; impingement in which a tendone is squeezed and rubs against bone, calcium buildingup in the tendons, tears of the tendons. Rotator cuff disorders are common cause of shoulder pain. Most rotator cuff disorders are caused by a combination of normal wear and tear and overuse. Using the shoulder for many years slowly damages the rotator cuff. As ageing, everyday activities can lead to changes in the rotator cuff, such as thinning and fraying of the tendons and reduced blood supply. Activities in which you use your arms above your head a lot-such as tennis, swimming, or house painting-can lead to rotator cuff problems. Even normal motions made often over a long period can stress or injure the rotator cuff. A simple movement like lifting a suitcase can cause a rotator cuff tear in an older adult or someone whose shoulder is already damaged. Symptoms of a rotator cuff disorder include pain and weakness in the shoulder. Most often, the pain is on the side and front of the upper arm and shoulder. It may hurt or be impossible to do everyday things, such as comb hair, tuck in shirt, or reach for something. You may have pain during the night and trouble sleep. It is important to treat a rotator cuff problem. Without treatment, it may get weaker and lifting up your arm could be a problem. Acupuncture is very effective to treat rotator cuff disorder and helps reducing the inflammation and pain, relaxing rotator cuff muscles and improving blood supply.

New research shows that acupuncture is effective for shoulder pain

Shoulder impingement syndrome which is the common cause of shoulder pain presents pain and weakness in the shoulder especially when you raise your arm. This will limit the movement of the shoulder making daily life difficult. This syndrome involves the rotator cuff tendon which connects the muscles in the shoulder to the top of the arm. You may experience a constant aching in the shoulder and pain at night. It can start suddenly after an injury or it can come on gradually without any obvious causes. The pain tends to be worse when you raise your arm over the head.

Recently a report has shown the effectiveness of acupuncture for shoulder impingement syndrome. In this report the effect of acupuncture in decreasing the intensity of short- and mid-term pain in the injured shoulder was studied. 68 participants with a mean age of 33.4 years were divided into two groups: one group received true acupuncture and the other received acupuncture at sham points. The treatment was carried out over 4 weeks, with the participants receiving a session every week. The result has shown significant difference in pain reduction between two groups both after treatment and 3 months after treatments. No side effects were reported.

Acupuncture is effective for shoulder pain. Shoulder pain is a common reason for patients to visit an acupuncturist. If you have had acupuncture for this, do you know the effect of acupuncture for shoulder pain is closely related to the acupuncture points chosen? Wang et al has analysed some clinical trial to study the acupuncture points for shoulder pain and they assessed the effectiveness of Ashi points stimulation on response rate compared with conventional acupuncture. They have found that there was a significantly greater recovery rate in group of Ashi points stimulation. The conclusion was Ashi points stimulation might be superior to conventional acupuncture, drug therapy and no treatment forshoulder pain. Another study compared the effect of trigger point acupuncture (TrP), with that of sham (SH)acupuncture treatments, on pain and shoulder function in patients with chronic shoulder pain. After treatment, pain intensity between pretreatment and 5 weeks after TrP decreased significantly. Shoulder function also increased significantly between pretreatment and 5 weeks after TrP. Compared with SH acupuncture therapy, TrP therapy appears more effective for chronic shoulder pain.